Continuous wire drawing and annealing



ct. 13, i936.

.bazaar/vara# J. R. MCKEAN ET AL CONTINUOUS WIRE DRAWING AND ANNEALING Filed July 28, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 QL/unf dffazvzy 40 the annealingl chamber, we have '4g lprovided an Patented ,.Oct. 13, 1936 2,057,582 CONTINUOUS WIRE DRAWING AND ANNEALING John lt. McKean,

Rhode Island Romford, and Herbert S. Bnsey, East Providence; R. L, Wire and Cable Company,

assignora to Kennecott a corporation o! Application July 28, 1933, serial No. 682,518

Claims- Oui present invention relates to the art of wire drawing, and has particular reference to an improved apparatus'for annealing drawn wire.

It has heretofore beenthepractice, in wire draw- 6 ing,'to pass the wire through the drawing block s to a spooling device, the lled spool then being conveyed to the annealing furnace for bright annealing of the wire, the practice thus necessi Vtatfilig an initial spooling followed by an annealing l0 and a' ilnalspooling. It is-theprincipal object of our invention to devise an apparatus for the bright annealing of drawn wire whichwill not interrupt .the manufacturing process and which is an integral part of the wire nishing operation;

The use 7of a separate annealing furnace has also increased the tendency to oxidation, andhas increased the expense on ,account of the addi-` tional handling necessary. It is an additional object of .our invention to provide an\annealingifur 0 nace of small size, specifically adapted for anneal- ,1 ing wire, the novel furnace including a' simple arrangement for cooling the: annealed wire before the wire contacts the atmosphere.

To this end, we have devised an annealing apparatus of small dimensions which may be detethalily secured to existing wire drawing machinesand which is positioned between the wire drawing blocks and the' spooling device, this apparatus continuously receiving the drawn wire as 0 itiea'ves the blocks, annea1ing the drawn wire, and cooling the drawn wire immediately after annealing and before it contacts the atmosphere so as to prevent oxidation', the annealed cooledrwire' then passing directly to the spooling device. The cooling `is preferably obtained by directing' a stream of cooling water on the' annealed wire, vthisccoling generating a curtain of ther egclude outside air. -Instead of utilizing external means for heating devised a novel arrangement utilizing a dame obtained by the combustion .of a combustible material and an oxygen supplying material, such as illuminating gas and air, as the annealing medium, and have enlongatedwannealing chamber to conserve the annealing be readily regulated to different diameter, and ame with the wire enhouse the flameand to heat. -The flame-may properly anneal wires of the direct. contact ofthe '50 eures a direct application of. the a ealing heat and eliminates radiation losses. Y '.To further reduce manufacturing expense-,we 'provide a control for the annealingV gasand air that is dependent upon the oper on of the wire 55 drawing machine, thus eliminating a11',wa8tage of steam tbfur- 1 gas is 'proiected into and through sheetof ai'r to 'and is compressed by the Vinclined wall 28 to profuel'and airi burning and excessive heating ci the wir'when starting and stopping is also prevented.

An additional feature of novelty resides in the provision of safety means for preventing premao Ature ignition and back lire, the preferred protection including a. delayed dow for the air and a mixing construction which ensures a completely ignitablemixture of the flame ingredients and positively projects the ame into the annealingl 10 chamber. y

With the above objects and otheradvantageous features in View, our invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully described in the Idetailed description following, in conjunction with l5 the accompanying drawings, andmore specifically dened in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the general arrangement of the continuous 20 wire drawing and annealing apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a'detailed section through theinovel annealing chamber.

- Referring to the drawings, the wire drawing block I0 is of standard constructio and in the 25 embodiment shown is the nished re drawing block; the wire W passes over the usual traversing guide pulley II to the spooling apparatus I2. An annealing apparatus I3 is positioned between the block 4lil and the spooling apparatus I2, as 30 shown in Fig. 1, a suitable securing means including brackets Il and i5 for receiving a bearing standard IB on which the annealing apparatus I3 may be detachably secured.

The novel annealing apparatus `includes an 35 annealing chamber Il which is .formed as an elongated tube,l the rear portion being constructed as a burner I8 which is supplied with a combustible gas, such as illuminating gas, hydrogen, acetylene and .the like through a valve controlled gas inlet pipe I9 which conducts the sas to anlannularchamber 2 0 communicating .with a forwardly directed annular gas nozzle 2|; air is supplied through an air inlet pipe'22 which communicates witha circular .air inlet chamber 23 terminating in a forwardly directed annular nozzle 24, the rear end of the burner having an opening 25 therethrough, preferably conical, for receiving the finished wire W from theblock I0.

It will be noted that the wall 26 between the5o nozzle is inclined, whereby the conical sheet of the conical thorofugl'il` mix in the chamber 21,

' A"duce a amoothfcompletelyjburnlns jet orame. to

The forward direction of the gas and air nozzles thus ensurea uniformly combustible mixture in the'annealing chamber, with no back fire, as the burner proper is completely filled with gas.v

lI'fhe gas and air burn to form an elongated ame of controlled length withinV the tubular chamber Il, to completely encircle the wire W and properly anneal the same, the chamber being preferably insulated to retain the annealing heat and to conserve the fuel supply. The direct contact of the ame with the heated wire from the drawing blocks eliminates radiation losses and thus further prevents heat loss.

The annealing chamber il projects into and is slidably received in the upper portion of a cooling chamber 29, in which a grooved pulley 30 is rotatably mounted, the wire being wound around this pulley and exiting through an opening 3i in the form of an elongated slot in the front wall of the cooling chamber to .engage the traversing guide pulley il. The pulley 3@ is substantially submerged in water as shown in Fig. l, the water outflowingthrough a valve controlled outiiow 32 to waste and also passing through the opening 3| into an overflow chamber '33 which in turn communicates with the outfiow 32. The sliding adjustment of the annealing chamber permits a control of the length of llame to properly anneal wire of different material and Aof different crosssectional area, which supplements and is in addition vto control of the speed of wire travel.

A valve controlled cold fluid inlet 34 is mounted in the upper wall of the cooling chamber 29 and has a nozzle 35 positioned to direct a. stream of cooling fluid on the annealed wire-at the point where the annealed wire passes out of the annealing ame, the cold fluid jet thus Vcooling the annealed wire, preventing contact of the atmosphere with the annealed wire, and serving to bring a constant supply of fresh cold fiuid to the cooling chamber. The impact of the cold fluid on the hot annealed wire generates vapor under slight pressure, which completely fills the cooling chamber and prevents entry therein of the atmospheric air. A splash plate or baille 36 is preferably positioned adjacent the slot 3|. The -preferred uid is water, but other cooling fiuids adapted to reduce the temperature of the annealed wire below the oxidation temperature may be used.

The control of gas and air to the burner I8 is preferably subordinated to the wire drawing operation; the main line for the main motor controls 31 and 38 is therefore connected to a line leading to a solenoid coil 39 which operates the` gas valve 40 through a lever system dl, and through an adjustable tension spring lever arrangement 42 operates the air valve 43, the lever system Bi having a. manually adjustable weight for regulating the action of the solenoid coil.` It is thus seen that the vgas supply is i'lrst opened, and the air supply is delayed, thus preventing formation of an explosive mixture in the burner.

If desired, a mercury type delayed action solenoidmay be used for controlling the air valve.

The operation of the novel annealing arrangement may now be, described; the wlre'W passes from the nishing drawing block I directly through the burner and through the iiame in the annealing chamber, which fiame completely envelopes the wire and properly anneals it; just before the wire passes out from the annealing dame, itis cooled by the cooling jet of cold water, thus immediately reducing the wire temperature below the oxidation point and ensuring a bright finish, and is passed around the cooling pulley 30 to complete the cooling operation; the wire then passes over the traverse guide pulley Il and is Wound upon a spool in the spooling device i2.

It is thus evident that the wire passes continuously from the drawing blocks through the annealing arrangement and toI the spooling reel, the wire being annealed in a neutral or a reducing fiame and being cooled before it can contact with the atmosphere. It is further evident that the annealing furnace is simple in construction, is readily attached to existing wire drawing installations, is operated only when wire is being drawn, is inexpensive in use, and produces a high annealing temperature with a low fuel consumption.

Although the above description describes a speciiic structural embodiment of our invention. it isobvio'us that desired changes in the relative arrangement and proportions of the parts may be made, within the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim: 1. In combination, an annealing chamber,

'means for projecting a flame of combusting gases means spaced therefrom, said supply means communicating with said longitudinal wire passage, whereby a flame produced by the combustion of the gas and air is projected in the direction of the wire passage.

4. In combination, a cooling chamber, an annealing chamber communicating therewith and projecting thereinto, means for drawing a wir'e through said annealing chamber and into said cooling chamber, and means for impinging a jet of cooling fluid on said wire as it emerges from th'e annealing chamber. f

5. In combination, a cooling chamber, an annealing chamber communicating therewith and projecting thereinto, means for projecting an annealing flame through said annealing chamber, means for drawing a wire through said annealing flame and into said cooling chamber, and means Vfor impinging a jet of cooling fluid on said wire as it emerges from the annealing flame.

6. In combination, a cooling chamber having -an opening, an annealing chambery of tubular formation extending through said opening, and means for projecting an annealing flame through said annealing chamberand into said cooling chamber.

of tubular formation extending through said opening, means for projecting an annealing iiame through said annealing. chamber and into said cooling chamber, means for conveying Wire through said annealing flame and into said cooling chamber, and means for impinging said wire with cooling uid in the region of its emergence from the name and while the wire is above critical temperature.

9. In combination, a cooling chamber having an opening, an annealing chamber for Wire and of tubular formation extending through said opening, means for projecting an annealing iiame through said annealing chamber and into said cooling chamber, means for conveying wire through said annealing name and into said cooling chamber, means for impinging said wire with cooling fluid in the region of its emergence from the flame and while the wire is above critical temperature, and means for shifting the relative position of the ilame and the cooling uid.

10. In combination, a cooling chamber having an opening, an annealing chamber for wire and of tubular formation extending through said opening, means for projecting an annealing flame through said annealing chamber and into said cooling chamber, means for conveying wire through said annealing flame and into said cooling chamber, means for impinging said Wire with cooling iiuid in the region of its emergence from the flame and while the wire is above critical temperature, and means for shifting said annealing chamber to adjust the relative position of the flame and the cooling duid.

JOHN Ri MCKEAN. HERBERT S. BUSEY. 

